The Baby in the Woods
by Rivan Warrioress
Summary: When seven year old Derek Hale innocently wanders away from his mother and sister during an outing in the woods he never expected to find a baby alone and abandoned, perilously close to death. Third story in series, read the first two stories, New Beginnings and Abduction (Arrow stories) first in order to get the gist of the story, but can be a stand alone fic.
1. Chapter 1

The woods surrounding his family's home seemed to call out to Derek, enticing him to go and explore. It was only because his mother…his Alpha, had ordered him to stay put until she was ready that he hadn't moved from his spot sitting on the front porch, his older sister Laura sitting beside him with only a little more patience than Derek had.

Derek huffed, and lay down on his belly, stretching his front legs out in front of him. He'd only just started learning how to fully shift into his wolf form when it wasn't the full moon, and the novelty of seeing himself in his wolf form hadn't yet worn off.

After what seemed like forever his mother finally walked through the front door and out onto the Porch, his father close at her heels, with little Cora in his arms, too young to join her older siblings in their romp. Derek listened carefully to his parents as they spoke to one another, knowing that once he was older, once his mom was gone, he'd be expected to help Laura run the pack, and by being her eyes and ears was a good start…and the fact this his eyesight and hearing were so much better when he was like this. Derek loved being a werewolf.

"You sure you'll be okay…and you'll keep an ear out for the pups?" Talia asked. Derek's dad nodded, "Yeah, I'll just be going over that stuff that David Whittmore sent over. I'm glad we made him our new Lawyer, he's good, from what I've seen."

Talia nodded, "I am too. I often see he and his wife, Louise out together when I pick up Laura from dance practice. Their son is just under a year younger than Cora. They look happy together as a family. What was it that happened to their son…before they adopted him?"

"His biological family…the Millers, I think, they died in a car crash somewhere overseas…South Africa from memory."

"Oh, that's right. They were there on business and happened across him in an orphanage and fell in love and brought him back here to Beacon Hills to start their new life as a family. Speaking of…I think the pups are getting restless." Talia let out a soft laugh and looked down happily at Laura and Derek, who had both sat up, looking pleadingly up at their parents.

Derek heard his father's snort, "God, look at those puppy dog expressions. We're doomed, we're never going to be able to say no to anything now," he complained jestingly. Talia laughed before she shed her shirt and shifted into her wolf form. Instinctively Derek tilted his head, exposing his neck and submitting to his mother, who licked the top of his head lovingly.

"Come on, my pups," she growled, leading them way from the house and into the woods, while Laura and Derek bounded after her, playfully pushing and shoving at one another and chasing their mother's tail as they moved deeper and deeper into the woods until they reached an area that was so isolated it was barely ever visited by humans. Talia lay down, relaxed on a rock, enjoying the sunlight that streamed through the canopy, while leaving Laura and Derek to play and explore. They were safe here from prying eyes, so Talia didn't have to be on her guard from passing hikers or anything like that. It was one of the few places Derek and Laura could run around shifted without being worried about being found or seen by humans.

Derek immediately left the clearing and went exploring, his nose pressed to the ground as he sniffed, trying to detect all of the different animals that had crossed the area. Laura was ignoring him, instead pouncing at the butterflies that fluttered between the flowers that had begun to bloom with the arrival of spring. Even though Laura was two years older than him Derek had to intention of joining her…chasing butterflies was a babyish game anyway.

Much more appealing was the scents and sounds of the woods. Derek tilted his head to the side and listened, his keen ears picking up the sounds of lots of smaller animals moving around the forest around them…Squirrels chattering in their trees, and rabbits running around in the distance. He could hear worms and ants under the ground, digging through the dirt, made soft by the rain they'd been having lately.

A rustling in the foliage brought Derek into a crouch, his ears perked up and his eyes scanning his surroundings for the source, although he could clearly hear the racing heartbeat of the rabbit that had strayed far too close to the young wolf. Sure enough, the rabbit bolted through the trees just in front of him, and Derek gave chase, his instincts surging as he impulsively raced after the rabbit. Derek had no intention of actually killing the rabbit, or even pouncing on the rabbit, his own compassionate side making the urge to kill easier to control, but chasing something at was moving so quickly was too much of a temptation to him.

Derek ran and ran, chasing the rabbit through the undergrowth, dodging around trees and jumping over rocks, until finally the rabbit disappeared down a hole at the base of a tree. Derek sniffed around the hole, listening as the rabbits racing heartbeat became more and more distant as it travelled through the burrow, safe and sound. Derek huffed, his breaths coming in soft pants after the run, his tail wagging happily as his tongue lolled out happily.

Hearing the tricking of a stream nearby, Derek walked towards it, giving it a precautionary sniff to determine the water was safe before having a drink. His uncle Peter had told him a story about when Peter had been young and had drunk polluted water. Despite being a werewolf it had still been enough to get Peter sick and earn him a few days of bed rest. Derek hated being confined more than anything, so he was very careful to make sure that the water didn't smell unusual before drinking.

Once Derek had drunk his fill from the swollen stream, he looked around curiously. He didn't immediately recognize the woods around him, although the faint scent of his mother still reassured him he was within Hale Pack territory. It was obvious, however, that Derek had strayed far from the area of the woods his mother had deemed safe, and for a moment Derek was frightened, not quite sure on how he could get back to his mother and sister.

The moment, however was fleeting. Derek knew that if he howled his mother would come and find him, and he hadn't been gone for that long. The spring sun was still high in the sky, and nothing in the preserve would dare attack the son of the Alpha werewolf.

Impulsively Derek splashed through the swollen stream and climbed the steep bank on the other side, shaking to get rid of the water in his fur, before he sniffed around some more, before he ran through the trees, exploring this new territory, and inhaling the smells that it brought.

Derek was having a great time; right up until a new smell reached his nose. He stiffened, remembering how one of his classmates, Beth, had smelled like that just before she died a few months ago. His mother had told him it was the scent of death, and that someone who smelled like that often couldn't be saved, even if you wanted them to stay alive. It had been a solemn lesson for Derek, and for Laura too. It had been the first time they'd had to deal with death. Beth had been sick for ages, she had cancer, Derek and his classmates had been told, although most of them hadn't really understood what that had meant. Some of the more stupid members of his class would sneeze a few times and then panic because they thought they had cancer and were going to die, when really they just had a cold and would be fine again in a few days.

Beth had been one of Derek's friends, although his mother had forbidden him from trying to take away the girl's obvious pain, a trick that Derek had only just started to learn at that point, and Derek had been really sad when she'd died. His mother and father had taken him to Beth's funeral so he'd been able to say goodbye. Most of his classmates had been there too, accompanied by one or both of their parents.

Curious about the poor creature who smelt like it was about to die, Derek cautiously followed the scent, scrambling over the rough terrain and the large boulders that blocked his way to the source of the scent. Far in the distance Derek could hear cars on the main road into Beacon Hills, but he could tell that, really, the road was still over 3 miles away, so it wasn't like someone was going to be able to see him, and if they did, from a distance they'd just think he was a wild dog. Derek was far too young for his wolf form to be big enough to be obviously not normal to a passing motorist at a distance, or even up close.

Drawing closer to the smell, Derek wrinkled his nose as it got stronger, and he wondered if whatever it was had already died and was being eaten by maggots and worms. He began to pick up other smells too. A couple of humans had passed this way not to long ago, a day or two at least, although Derek wasn't good at judging how old scents were. Laura was a lot better at it than he was, but his mother was even better.

Perking up his ears, Derek listened cautiously; checking to make sure the humans had actually left the woods. He couldn't pick up their heartbeats, although he could hear the soft pattering of the heart of the poor creature he was approaching. Obviously they weren't dead, but Derek was fairly sure that heartbeats weren't supposed to sound like this. It sounded like Beth's had, in those last few days at school before she'd gone to hospital for the last time. Unless something happened Derek was fairly sure that whatever it was would be dead within a few hours.

Derek hesitated mid stride, knowing that, if he wasn't in wolf form, he'd probably have started crying at that thought. Maybe he could save them. His uncle Peter was always talking about how wolves were natural predators, killing machines at the top of the food chain. He only ever talked like that when Derek's parents weren't around, but it was enough for the idea to seep into Derek's head.

One night Derek had been consumed by the thought, and had dreamed of killing everyone who wasn't a werewolf around him…his classmates at school, the human members of the pack, his teacher, and the few human adults he'd been introduced to. He'd woken up screaming from the nightmare, and his mother had rushed to his bedside, holding him for the rest of the night, taking him into his parent's bed, and letting him scent her as he tried to calm down.

"Just because you're a predator doesn't mean that you have to be a killer as well," she'd told him gently that night, holding him close as she tried to sooth him

Since that night his mother's words had become a mantra, an anchor, just as much as the familiar words of Alpha Beta Omega. Maybe, instead of being a killer, he could be the hero and save whatever poor creature was dying out in the woods, alone.

As he began moving again, Derek wondered what sort of creature it would be. A rabbit seemed the most likely option, or a squirrel, judging from the heartbeat. A fox or a deer were also possibilities, although they were less likely.

As Derek climbed a hill and walked into a clearing, however, nothing prepared him for the sight of the creature as he finally laid eyes on it. His nose flared as he finally found the source of the smell that he had followed for almost a mile. The baby was lying on the ground, looking like it was sleeping, although it's breathing was uneven and strained.

Derek cautiously approached the sleeping baby. It looked like the baby was a little younger than Cora, although Derek guessed that he or she would probably be old enough to walk a little, if they weren't lying in the woods sleeping. Derek sniffed, cringing at the smell of a very dirty diaper, before he crouched beside the baby, touching his nose to the baby's hand gingerly. The baby didn't respond, although Derek could feel how cool the baby's skin had been. He sat back upright, suddenly unsure of himself. He didn't know anything about babies, except for what he learned when Cora was born, and she was a werewolf. This baby was human, and therefore completely different.

Throwing his head back, Derek howled for his mother, knowing that she would know what to do. Immediately he heard the responding howl from his mother, and knew that she had heard him and was on her way. Now all Derek had to do was keep the baby alive until his mother came. He shuffled as close to the baby as he could, lying down on the ground until he was curled around it, his furry tail draped over the baby as a sort of blanket. He felt tiny fingers curl around his fur weakly, and turned his head so he could see the baby's face.

Bleary amber eyes looked at him, curious, despite the exhaustion and pain written across the baby's features. Derek licked the baby's cheek comfortingly, and the baby gave him the barest hint of a smile, before he succumbed to exhaustion once again. Derek curled around the sleeping baby a little tighter, praying that his mother reached them in time.


	2. Chapter 2

Talia lifted her head the moment she heard Derek howl. She'd already been tracking her son's footsteps, and had reached the stream that he had paused at, if his tracks were anything to go by.

"Laura, I want you to run as fast as you can back to the house, alright? Do you know the way?" Talia chuffed, turning to Laura, who was standing at her heels, still fully shifted

"Yes mom," Laura whimpered, nodding her head in reply.

"Alright, go, and don't stop until you get there,"

Laura turned and bolted through the trees, and Talia watched her go for a moment, before she splashed through the stream and up the bank on the other side, following her son's scent as she ran at full speed, desperate to reach Derek and find out what had happened.

From the tone of his howl Talia was confident Derek wasn't injured, nor was he in any immediate danger, but there had been a touch of urgency, of desperation, and a hint of fear in the noise that had her concerned. As she ran she monitored her surroundings, taking note of everything around her. She noticed the smell of death almost immediately, and the scent of the humans that had crossed the path she was following two days before, although Talia was certain they were long gone. In her head Talia knew that Derek had followed the scent of death, curious about the scent after he'd first encountered it when his poor classmate had been ill.

Still, Talia expected it to be a rabbit, or some other woodland creature that was in it's death throes, and she mentally prepared herself for Derek, and probably Laura as well, trying to fix the poor creature, before it, of course, eventually would die, and leave her with two very upset young pups to deal with…and then Cora would latch onto her older siblings distress and then she'd have a distressed ten year old, a emotionally distraught seven year old who would blame himself for the creatures death, even though he hadn't done anything, and a cranky two year old.

Still, even though the scent of human grew stronger, mixed with Derek's own scent the closer she got to her pup, Talia wasn't prepared for the sight of her son, still wolfed out, although obviously unharmed, curled around a sleeping baby. Talia skidded to a stop in the muddy grass and cautiously approached the two as Derek blinked up at her, nosing the baby's pale skin nervously. The baby, however, didn't respond. Talia listened to the baby's heart beat from where she stood, and the sound of its strained little breaths.

"Derek," she chuffed, "It's okay, you're doing the right thing. I'm going to call to daddy and Uncle Peter, and then I'll be able to help you, ok?"

Derek nodded and Talia threw her head back and howled to her pack, to her husband and her brother. It was quite possible that one of them was on the way already, having heard Derek's howl, but pups were a little restricted by the range of their howls, and it was possible that Derek's howl hadn't travelled far enough to be heard by the rest of the pack at the house.

Having called the pack, Talia shifted back into her human form, knowing that she would be able to do far more for the baby in that shape than as a wolf. Derek whined and cocked his head to the side questioningly, but Talia shook her head. Derek needed to stay in his wolf form, he was warmer in this shape, and if the baby was hypothermic then Derek would be good for keeping it warm.

"Come here little one," Talia crooned gently, crouching down and picking the baby up in her arms, cradling it to her naked chest. She rocked back onto her knees as Derek got up and moved closer to her, resting his head on her knees as he watched her cradle the unconscious baby.

Talia guessed that the baby was about a year old, maybe 15 months, at most, even though he or she felt lighter than a healthy one year old should. What caused Talia to frown, however, was the bruising on the baby's face, as if he'd been stuck. The bruising was mottled blue and green, with flecks of yellow, and marked both cheeks of the baby. The few patches of skin that were unmarked with bruising were alarmingly pale, and if Talia wasn't focused on the sound of the baby's heartbeat with her Alpha werewolf level hearing, she would have thought the baby dead.

Still, at the same time, Talia was mentally preparing herself to administer CPR on the baby, not liking one bit the fluttering of his or her heart.

Talia had no idea how much time had passed before she heard the familiar heartbeat of her mate rapidly approaching, as well as the sound of his footsteps as he raced towards her position in his partial shift. Just like the rest of her pack Andrew could fully shift, Talia herself had coached him through the process once he'd developed good control after he'd become a werewolf, but he preferred the partial shift rather than going full wolf. It wasn't unusual with bitten wolves, and Talia was immensely grateful for it now, knowing that Andrew would have changes of clothes for her, and for Derek, and a phone on which they could call the emergency services. Despite being a little warmer now the baby in her arms was still unconscious, and Talia knew that he or she needed to be in hospital.

Eventually Andrew ran into the clearing, skidding to a stop as he took in the scene. He let the backpack slide off his back and onto the ground and approached Talia and Derek.

"Andrew, call 911, he or she needs hospital, now," Talia directed, although Andrew already has his phone out and was dialing. Talia cradled the baby in one arm, and ran her fingers through Derek's fur with her free hand.

"Derek, I need you to shift back and get dressed, okay? An ambulance and the police will be here soon, and you need to be ready before they get here."

Derek nodded, moving away from his mother and shifting back until he was a normal looking boy once again, although a naked one at that. He dived into the bag and grabbed his spare clothes out, disappearing into the undergrowth to get changed. Talia waited until Andrew had finished calling for help before she carefully passed the baby over to him.

"I'll get changed," she told him, before she retrieved her own clothes out of the backpack and quickly got dressed, before taking the baby back into her arm, tucking him or her into her jacket to try and conserve their temperature.

"I'll go wait by the road and flag down the ambulance when it gets here," Andrew told her, getting to his feet and racing away, as Derek emerged from the bushes, fully dressed. He sat on the ground next to his mother and peered at the baby she was holding.

"Where do you think they came from? Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked. Talia cringed and undid a few of the snaps on the little jumpsuit the baby was wearing, trying to ignore the smell as she glanced in the baby's filthy diaper.

"Boy," she confirmed, doing the snaps back up, "but I don't know where he come from. The police will find his parents though. You did the right thing calling me, Derek, I'm very proud of you."

"I wonder how long he's been out here." Derek thought aloud. Talia shuddered, not wanting to think about how long the baby boy had been left alone in the woods. She was certain the humans she could smell had been involved, but their scent was two days old. If it had been them that had left the baby here it was a minor miracle that the baby had made it so long, especially when he already had injuries.

"He woke up, not long after I found him, he smiled at me and touched my fur." Derek told her. Talia smiled and ruffled Derek's hair affectionately.

"Make sure you tell the paramedics that he was awake, briefly, when you found him, and that he looked at you and smiled, but we'll leave out the bit about fur. We'll tell them that we were going for a walk together, and you wondered off a little and found him and screamed for your father and I to come, alright?"

Derek nodded, and Talia was glad that she'd taught her children from an early stage how to accept a plausible cover story for anything that happened that was supernatural in origin. Already in the distance she could hear the sirens, but she knew it would at least be another ten minutes before they arrived at the roadside closest to where they were, and then at least another five minutes for Andrew to bring the Paramedics and the police out to the sight. Talia considered moving closer to the road, but she didn't want to risk accidently exposing her secret by being able to lead the police straight back to the clearing, especially when the small clearing was identical do many other such clearing in the woods.

All they could do was wait and hope that the little baby boy lasted long enough for help to arrive.

TEEN WOLF

Relief washed over Talia's body as Andrew finally led three men into the clearing. The first two were paramedics, loaded up with the tools of their trade, while the third man was young deputy Stilinski. Peter brought up the rear, having only just beaten the ambulance to the scene in his own car

"Ah, crap," Stilinski muttered the moment he saw the baby lying in Talia's arms, "who the hell leaves a kid out here alone?"

Nobody answered the question as the Paramedics began to examine the baby, cutting away his jumpsuit and passing it over to the deputy, who immediately put it in an evidence bag. The Paramedics changed the baby's diaper, and Talia cringed sympathetically as she saw the rash that covered the baby's bottom from the diaper he'd had on before. Dutifully, Deputy Stilinski bagged the diaper as well, before he began photographing the scene, and began questioning Talia and Derek gently. Derek, obviously shaken from seeing the state the baby had been in, the bruising on his face seeming so much less significant when compared to the bruising and cuts on his back, chest and legs, answered the deputy's questions confidently, sticking to the story Talia had given him.

"I was running, I wanted to explore, and Mommy and Daddy said I could go a little bit away from them," Derek explained, "And then I ran into the clearing and he was there, and I just curled up next to him to try and keep him warm and called for mom and Dad. He opened his eyes and smiled at him, but then he fell back asleep and wouldn't wake up, even when mommy and Daddy got here." Derek explained. Deputy Stilinski smiled kindly at Derek and patted him on the back.

"You did good, kid," He'd praised the younger boy, "If you hadn't found him who knows what would have happened to the little guy. You saved his life, I think. That makes you a hero."

Talia saw the affect the deputies words had on her son, and beamed with pride at the way Derek's chest puffed up a little, his eyes shining as he looked up at the deputy with some sort of awed respect from where he stood beside Peter, who had a gentle, reassuring arm around her son's shoulders.

It didn't take long for Andrew and Talia to give their own statements, and Peter to add his own comments. By then the Paramedics had finished doing all they could for the baby, and were carefully taking him out of the preserve to their waiting ambulance so they could rush him to Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital.

"Thanks for everything," Deputy Stilinski nodded, shaking hands with Talia, and then with Derek, "I might need to come back and have another look at the scene, see if I can get some prints, although I doubt it, what with the rain we've been having lately."

"Feel free," Talia offered, "I only wish we could do more to help. Would…would it be alright if we checked up with the hospital, maybe visited him when he's a little stronger?"

"We'll see how he responds to treatment over the next 24 to 48 hours," the deputy conceded, "I'll start searching for his parents, and we'll go from there. I'll give you a call when the hospital Okays visitors."

"Thank you," Talia inclined her head, taking Derek by the hand gently, knowing that when Deputy Stilinski had mentioned seeing how the baby boy responded to treatment he was really saying that he didn't know that the baby would survive his ordeal.

Only time would tell.


	3. Chapter 3

Deputy John Stilinski leaned wearily against the nurses' station in the pediatrics ward of Beacon Hills memorial Hospital, waiting for news about the victim of his latest case.

If there was any sort of case that John hated, it would be cases that involved children, and especially child abuse cases. It was obvious, right from the moment he walked into the clearing, that this was one of those cases.

John couldn't understand what would drive anyone to hurt a child, especially one as young as the baby currently being examined and taken for x-rays and other tests and scans. The same infant that Talia Hale's young son had found abandoned in the woods.

When the baby, for the moment being classed as a John Doe, had arrived at hospital he had been given an IV line, with fluids running into his system, as well as an dose of pain relief appropriate to his size and approximate age. John had seen him since then, and it had already seemed to do the baby some good, a little color returning to his skin, and his heart rate a little better now that he was warm and not quite so dehydrated. It was a promising start, although it remained unclear as to what sort of injuries had been inflicted on the child.

John's boss, the current Sherriff of Beacon Hills, Sherriff Jones, had been in touch. Despite being 70 years old, with white hair and a white moustache that kind of made him look a bit like Stan Lee, the man was still very bright and clever, and kept himself very well informed on each of his deputy's cases.

Of course, this case was unique. Kids got lost in the preserve all the time, but none this young. It was obvious that the baby hadn't gotten himself lost, and that he'd been abandoned out in the woods by someone. One of the other deputies had been given the job of looking through local records to see if the baby's description matched any of the local kids about his age. They'd already checked missing person's reports for Beacon County, and for the surrounding counties as well, but nothing had matched.

John blinked and stood a little straighter when he saw one of the nurses, Melissa McCall, approaching him with a sad smile on her face.

"How is he?" John asked.

Melissa sighed, "he's going okay. He's still unconscious, but the fluids are really helping his vitals. The scans showed no sign of internal bleeding, so that's a good thing. Dental x-rays indicate that he is between 15 and 17 months old, although for a child his age he is very underweight. The doctors will be able to tell you more, but it looks like he hasn't had any permanent damage done to him."

"Thanks Melissa," John rested his hand on Melissa's shoulder. He knew Melissa fairly well, as his wife Claudia was one of Melissa's best friends. He couldn't imagine how hard a case of abuse like this was for her, especially as Melissa had a son only a few months older than the baby. Scott was a bright and bubbly little toddler, affectionate with everyone who he encountered, although Melissa was his favorite person in the entire world. Considering that there was only a few months age difference it made the condition the baby from the woods was in look even worse.

Melissa led John into the room that the baby had been put in, and John immediately noticed that the baby looked more comfortable now, lying sound asleep in a crib, naked with the exception of a diaper, and attached to various monitors recording his vital signs. Two doctors were standing next to the crib, watching the baby sleep.

"How's the little guy going?"

"He's fighting," One of the doctors replied, "Considering the condition he was found in he's doing really well, far better than I expected. His head MRI and CT scans came back clear, and his x-rays showed that while he does have fractures to his arm, ribs, and some of the bones in his feet, they all have some signs of remodeling. Once you've taken your photographs we'll attach splints to make sure they heal correctly…He's lucky that none of the fractures require surgery to correct."

"He has cuts on his back, thighs and abdomen, and cigarette burns to his shoulders, hands, arms, legs and feet, not to mention the worse case of diaper rash I've ever seen in all of my career," the other doctor added, "I hope you catch the bastard that did this to him, and that he or she rots in jail for a long time for this."

"So…definitely abuse?" John asked for confirmation.

Both doctors nodded, "Without a doubt," the first doctor confirmed confidently.

John began to photograph and catalogue the little boy's injuries, "So…how long do you think this has been going on for," he asked as he worked.

The second doctor spoke up, 'I'm glad you asked that, Deputy Stilinksi. Although he's been pretty badly injured over the last few months, we didn't see any sign of older injuries on the x-rays…or anything else to indicate that he was abused, before, say, February of this year. No healed fractures, no scars, nothing."

"So…it's all happened in the last few months..." John thoughtfully said to himself, noting the information in his case file, "So…something's changed and the abuser took it out on the kid?"

"Possibly" the first doctor nodded and John finished his work and stepped back, allowing the doctors to carefully splint the baby's fractured limbs, and bandaging the wounds that hadn't already been bandaged to keep them clean, before draping a blanket over his legs and abdomen to keep him warm.

Throughout the whole process the baby slept, his heart rate and breathing within normal levels, according to the monitors. John found himself unwilling to leave, resting his weight carefully on the side of the crib the baby was sleeping in as the two doctors left. This time it was Melissa who put her hand on his shoulder.

"We're going to find who did this to you," John promised the baby solemnly, "and we're going to make them pay. We'll find you a new home, where you'll be loved, and you won't be hurt like this."

As if the baby had heard him, he shifted, his eyes fluttering open sleepily as he looked up at John and Melissa. The baby didn't make a noise, but John noticed the way his breathing caught in his chest, as if he was going to start crying.

"Hey, it's okay, little guy, we're going to help you. We're not going to let anyone hurt you, not anymore."

Tentatively, John lowered his hand into the crib, brushing it against the baby's less bruised cheek, before running his finger gently down the arm without a splint on it. He stopped, frozen in shock, when the baby gripped his finger tightly when he ran it over the baby's palm. A little smile appeared on the baby's face, and John couldn't help but smile back at the baby.

"Looks like someone likes you," Melissa observed with a smile. John just shrugged, before he went back to looking at the baby, whose grip loosened as he drifted off to sleep again.

In that moment John had felt an attachment form between him and the now sleeping baby. He knew he wasn't supposed to get attached, but in that moment he hadn't been able to help it. The look in the baby's eyes as he'd looked up at him, the emotions the baby was feeling…weariness, loneliness, fear, desperation. It had all been there, written in the little boy's eyes.

More than anything John wanted to wipe away the boy's bad emotions and replace them with better ones…happiness, feeling safe, belonging, feeling loved and cared for. John wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but he knew that he was going to try.

TEEN WOLF

When John finally got home that evening he found Claudia sitting on the couch, watching the news on the TV. Sherriff Jones was on the screen, reading a statement asking for any information about the mysterious boy in the woods. In the background of the shot John was visible, watching the Sherriff deliver his speech.

"How are you?" Claudia asked, rising to her feet and embracing her husband tightly. John buried his head in her hair. John knew that Claudia understood how hard this case was for him, how hard all child abuse cases were for him. As much as they'd tried they'd never been blessed with children of their own. There had been a little hope, but four heartbreaking miscarriages later John and Claudia had known that they would never have biological children of their own. They'd considered adoption, but there hadn't ever been a good time to really get the process started.

"I'm ok," he admitted heavily, "I can't understand why someone would hurt him like that and then leave him out in the woods to die. The docs are amazed he's started improving so much already. It was a minor miracle that he survived so long out in the woods. I went back out to the scene after I documented his injuries and other than the tracks from today the most recent prints I found in that clearing were at least a day old, more like two days. It's rained since then, and I'm just glad it was as warm as it has been, otherwise he wouldn't have made it this long."

"and you have no idea who his parents are, or who abandoned him out there."

"He doesn't match any missing person's files on our records, and the Sherriff checked with every family that had a baby in Beacon Hills within the timeframe of when they think he was born. Nothing unusual to report there. Whoever he is, he wasn't born here."

"I'm sure you'll find his parents, what are you guys going to do with him in the meantime?"

"He'll be in hospital until his injuries are healed and he's put on some more weight. They'll probably have to assess him to see how he's going developmentally too. He's really too young to see a psychologist, but he'll be checked out to see how he's going in his head as well. If we haven't found his parents by then, or if his parents were the ones who did this, then he'll have to go into a foster home. Social Services have already been contacted. They've already told us that it would be best if he went straight into a long term foster home to give him some stability. He's too young and vulnerable for a group home."

"I'm sure the right place will be found for him," Claudia stated optimistically.


	4. Chapter 4

John set down his pen, rubbing his hands over his face as he looked down at the piece of paper in front of him, having tried to imagine the scenario leading to the baby being abandoned in the woods. A few days had passed since the boy had been found and John was at his desk at the Sherriff's department, trying to figure out the chain of events leading up to the child being abandoned.

Option number one on his list was that the mother had gained a new boyfriend, who was abusive to her child by another man, and eventually persuaded her to abandon the baby in the woods.

Option two was the same as option one, except with the roles reversed, and it was the father's new partner who was abusive, a sort of Hansel and Gretel scenario

The third option involved the boy's mother developing Post natal depression, either a year after having her son, or, perhaps more likely, after the birth of a second, younger child. That scenario particularly scared John, as it meant that another child was out there perhaps being mistreated as well.

A fourth option was kidnapping, although it seemed unlikely as the baby boy didn't match any missing children's reports in the state, although now they were beginning to comb through records for the rest of the country.

John's fifth scenario was that the baby's parents, perhaps thinking that he'd be found earlier, had left him there in the hope that someone else would give him a better life, although that seemed like a less likely option when the signs of prior abuse were taken into account, unless it was an extended family member or a family friend who was the abuser. It could be that the little boy was the product of a teenaged pregnancy, and he'd been abandoned by his parents in an attempt to get him away from his abusive grandfather or uncle.

The sixth scenario was that either of the baby's biological parents was also the baby's abuser, and the one who left him in the woods hoping that he would be found and escape the abuse.

So on down John's page the potential scenarios went, some of them incredibly unlikely, and some of them very plausible. The footprints he had found had been not very helpful, except for indicating that, if the footprint belonged to the same person who abandoned the baby, they were probably male, with an average shoe size, and an ordinary pair of work boots. There were millions of pairs of such shoes in the country, and John knew that, really, there was no way the evidence would stand up in court, even if they found the individual responsible.

The clothes that the baby was found in hadn't been much use either, all potential DNA samples washed away or contaminated by the rain and the fact that the baby was in the woods.

Really, all of John's theories were just speculation, but he found writing out scenarios helped him think about ways he could track down whoever it was who abandoned the baby. So far he wasn't having much luck, and he wasn't overly optimistic about his chances of catching whoever it was that abused the boy…not unless more evidence was found.

John let out a heavy sigh and glanced at his watch. It was his lunch break, and he decided to go and visit Claudia. Claudia worked at the library four days a week, and on the other weekday she volunteered at the hospital, reading to the patients, or keeping them company, or doing other menial jobs that freed up the doctors and nurses to do their jobs. Today was a hospital day, so John walked the few blocks to the hospital, enjoying the spring sunshine as he ate the salad roll Claudia had made for his lunch.

By the time he reached the hospital he'd finished his roll, so he disposed of the rubbish, and walked into the emergency room. A quick question to one of the orderlies directed John to the pediatrics ward, which John wasn't overly surprised by. Claudia had most of her volunteer hours in the pediatrics ward, spending time talking to the kids whose parents had to go to work, or were absent for some other reason, or playing board games with them, or things like that.

He saw Melissa working on paperwork at the main desk at the entry to the wards, and caught her gaze, waving cheerfully.

Melissa beamed and rose to her feet, having finished the paperwork she had been working on, "Claudia met our little baby John Doe today," she told John, leading him into the ward, "I think she fell in love just as much as the rest of us have."

"Hard not to," John admitted, "How is the little fighter going?"

"Great, we're weaning him off his IVs now that the allergy tests have come back all clear. Now that we know he's not going to go anaphylactic on us we can start him on foods to see how he copes with it."

Together they walked into the room that John had become rather familiar with, although he smiled broadly as he saw Claudia sitting in a chair, the little boy from the woods, looking a lot stronger now, sitting in her lap and leaning against her lazily as he sucked on a bottle of formula.

"Hey…I see you met the little guy," John greeted his wife, who nodded, giving the boy a gentle hug, before tilting the bottle some more to help him drink it.

"They wanted to see how he went with formula first," Claudia explained, "And I volunteered to feed him. He likes his food; I guess that's a good sign."

"The plan is to keep him on formula for a few days just to make sure he's handling that okay and then we'll start him on solids and work our way from there until he's eating what is average for a child his size and age. It'll take awhile, and we'll probably have to include additional vitamin supplements in his food until he's back within the normal weight range, but he's doing very well so far. The Hales visited this morning as well. Derek got to have a bit of a cuddle, although the little guy started getting nervous when the younger girl, Cora started crying.

John nodded, pleased that Derek got the chance to see the little boy he saved now that the baby was more alert and doing a lot better. He wasn't surprised that the boy got upset at young Cora Hale's crying, though. The boy never cried, but he did tense up and shy away from loud noises like crying. It was one of the things the doctors and nurses caring for him had noted. Having lots of people around him too caused the boy some distress, and most of the male doctors and nurses too, although he didn't seem to mind the female nurses and doctors...or John for that matter. John suspected that this was an indicator that whoever the abuser was, it was a man who had done it, although he personally didn't understand why the boy had chosen to make him an exception.

So far the boy hadn't spoken a single word, although he'd been checked over by a speech specialist, who concluded that there was no physical reason that the boy wasn't talking, and that it was probably a psychological problem stemming from the abuse. There was nothing wrong with his hearing, so it was now just a waiting game for the boy to relax enough and be confident enough about his surroundings to start talking.

Still, despite everything that had happened to him, all of the setbacks he faced, John could see how strong the little baby was, and knew that he would keep fighting for as long as he could, and he would win, and heal, and live a happy and long life, despite everything that had happened to him for the last few months. More than anything, John wished he could be a part of that life...and from the look on her face, Claudia felt exactly the same way.

TEEN WOLF

Six Months later

Oblivious to the eyes on him, the newest addition to the Stilinski household slept in his crib, the toy wolf given to him by Derek Hale and his family held tightly in his little hand. In the doorway to their son's room, John and Claudia watched the sleeping one year old, John's arms around Claudia's shoulders, both of them smiling happily.

Six months had passed since the little boy, now named after Claudia's father, although John doubted he would ever get the pronunciation of the name exactly correct, had been found in the woods, and the little boy had progressed in leaps and bounds. Sure, there were side effects from the trauma he'd been through, and he had a long list of things that triggered him, but with a bit of work, patience, and understanding, the little boy was becoming more and more settled and comfortable.

It had only been a week after he'd been found that John and Claudia had approached Social Services offering to take their little boy in. They'd started off as his foster parents the day he was released from hospital, and then they'd started the process of a formal adoption, which had been quickly approved. Now he was theirs, officially, and nothing would ever take him away from them.


End file.
